New Delhi, March 13: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the attack on CRPF troopers in Chhattisgarh that left nine paramilitary personnel dead reflected a deteriorating internal security situation under the Narendra Modi government.

“The Maoist attack in Sukma, Chhattisgarh in which 9 CRPF jawans lost their lives is tragic. It reflects a deteriorating internal security situation due to flawed policies,” tweeted Gandhi.

“My condolences to the families of those killed. To those who have been injured, I wish a speedy recovery,” he added.

At least nine CRPF personnel were killed and three others injured when Maoists blew up their anti-landmine vehicle in Sukma on Tuesday, said a senior Chhattisgarh Police official. The blast was followed by a heavy exchange of fire between the security forces and the rebels.

The Congress also said that the attack exposed the hollow claims of Modi government in controlling Maoism, since it came in the same district where 26 CRPF personnel were killed by the ultra-left rebels last year.

“That attack was the biggest one in the past seven years, but BJP government has not learnt any lesson,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, adding that the national security situation was “a direct consequence of Modi government’s aimless, irresolute and inconsistent polices”.

“Modi had sold the ‘national security’ plank hard to attain power, but in the past four years, we have only witnessed a precarious security situation in the country,” he said, claiming ceasefire violations on the border, cross-border infiltration, terror attacks on security installations and Maoist attacks had increased manifold.

The party said there have been 23 major Maoist attacks after demonetisation, in which 97 security personnel and 121 civilians were killed.

“In the last 14 years and 95 days, the Raman Singh-led BJP government in Chhattisgarh has miserably failed on this internal security front. Every time there is a Naxal (Maoist) attack, the Chief Minister promises some tough action, but nothing concrete has been done to stop these attacks.

“BJP President Amit Shah, who had last year started the BJP expansion plan from (West Bengal’s) Naxalbari, should have instead planned with the PM on how to tackle Maoism,” said Surjwala.\

UP Minister calls BJP arrogant, power drunk

Lucknow, March 19: Coalition blues hit the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh on Monday as senior cabinet minister and Suhaildev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) President Om Prakash Rajbhar accused the BJP of “not respecting its alliance partners”.

Predicting bad days for the Bharatiya Janata Party, the minister alleged that the ruling party had “lost its mental balance in the wake of the brute majority handed over to it in the UP Assembly”.

The remarks came on a day when the BJP government completed one year in office and rolled out grand celebrations on the occasion.

Rajbhar also created a flutter in political circles by announcing that his support for the BJP’s Rajya Sabha nominees was still uncertain.

He said his party could have got at least 30,000 votes for the BJP in the Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha by-elections but he was not even asked to campaign.

“The BJP’s humiliating defeat in the by-elections is a result of its arrogance and reflects that within one year they have lost the trust of the people,” Rajbhar told IANS on phone.

He accused the BJP government of paying attention only to temples and doing nothing for the poor, backwards, Dalits and farmers. “A lot is being said, claimed and written but on the ground nothing is seen.”

The minister, whose party has four members in the UP Assembly, added: “For now we are with the NDA but the BJP is not following the coalition dharma.”

He also told IANS that till BJP President Amit Shah speaks to him to settle the issues raised by him, his legislators will not participate in the Rajya Sabha biennial polls slated for March 23.

Meanwhile, Rao stated it will be a collective leadership, it will be a federal leadership.

K Chandrashekhar Rao, with the Bengal CM by his side, said, “Our front will be a collective and federal, which will be different from the routine model. There is a need for political alternatives and the country needs a change.”

The Trinamool Congress supremo greeted KCR with a bouquet of flowers and discussed ways to unite the regional parties to take on the BJP before the high stakes 2019 general elections.

HAM rebel leader joins JD-U in Bihar

Patna, March 19: Senior Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) rebel leader Narendra Singh on Monday formally joined the ruling Janata Dal-United here and announced he will strengthen the BJP-led NDA.

Narendra Singh, a former minister, merged his faction of HAM with the JD-U in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister and party President Nitish Kumar.

Earlier on Sunday, Narendra Singh, who revolted against HAM President Jitan Ram Manjhi’s unilateral decision to break ties with the NDA and join hands with the Grand Alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), declared his faction of the party the “real HAM”.

Narendra Singh was one of the few senior leaders along with former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to join HAM that was formed before the 2015 Assembly polls.

In February, Manjhi formally joined the Grand Alliance, hours after he announced its exit from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).